For Lee Seong-min, like so many North Koreans, watching movies and TV programs was a high-stakes game of cat and mouse. While DVD players are now a fixture in many North Korean homes — the government has no problem with the players — popular South Korean soap operas and movies are forbidden.

Lee said the government has, in recent years, started switching off the power in late evening. That way, the forbidden disks would be stuck in the DVD players, providing police with evidence as they made their rounds.

Not shocking that what most of us take for granted, could get them killed if caught. Unless, of course, you're among the elite chosen by the leader, then it's okay to have these items in your home. If he still has relatives in N. Korea they could be in danger because he is speaking out.

In The World According to Dennis Rodman, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom he just saw on his second trip to the country, is quite likeable.

"He has to do his job, but he's a very good guy," Rodman said Monday at a news conference, announcing plans for a "basketball diplomacy" event that will involve players form North Korea. Meanwhile, Kim presides over one of the most repressive regimes on Earth.

Why is the press indulging Rodman, don't give him the time of day and he will disappear. Give him attention and he will keep on going.

Mr. Humanitarian doesn't care about anyone except himself. Certainly doesn't care to help out a fellow countrymen being held in N. Korea. Kenneth Bae was born in S. Korea and now a US Citizen. Is the dreaded race card being played by Rodman, wont help him, but if he was black would he ignore helping him get out of there?

The universe is big It's vast and complicated and ridiculous and sometimes, very rarelyimpossible things just happen and we call them miracles

Poor Dennis Rodman, all that sucking up to the dictator and doesn't get a basketball stadium built and named after him. Instead the dictator gave the starving people what they really need. A Ski Resort. Yes, a ski resort for those that have nothing. Can't afford the slope prices or the equipment, and they sure don't have the strength to give it a try.

One more luxury item for the dictator and his buddies, while the country starves to death.

On second thought, it's not for them to enjoy while starving in poverty, they will probably work there while living in shacks for pennies and will get the scrapes leftover from the kitchen so they don't drop from starvation on the job.

The secretary-general of North Korea's ski association views the sprawling alpine landscape before him with unabashed pride. Facing a strong, cold wind, he points to a dip in the rugged, tree-covered mountains and says the sunrise there is a sight of unmatched beauty, worthy of the nation's supreme leader, Kim Jong Un. This is the Masik Pass ski resort, North Korea's latest megaproject, the product of 10 months of furious labor intended to show that this country, so often derided for its poverty and isolation, is as civilized and culturally advanced as any other.

The complex of ski runs, resort chalets and sleigh rides will formally open Thursday, though late last month the main hotels appeared to be little more than shells, potholes filled the access roads and foundations were still being dug for secondary buildings.

Turn it up, turn it up, little bit higher radioTurn it up, turn it up, so you know, radio

Warning of a “horrible disaster,” North Korea placed its military on high alert on Tuesday as it continued to ramp up the rhetoric against the United States and South Korea.

Citing “imperialist aggression” and American military training maneuvers in the region, along with the moving of an aircraft carrier and other U.S. ships into a South Korean port, a spokesman for the North’s military said they were reexamining their operation plans to, “keep themselves fully ready to promptly launch operations at any time.”

So much for the time out. North Korea needs to follow the lead of kids and learn that when you go to the corner you keep quiet when you come out. You don't restart the bad behavior that sent you there in the first place.

I'm also confused. They are building a resort so foreigners will visit, yet they keep threatening war? Not exactly going to win them over. Please drop by and we sure hope we don't have to throw you in jail for war crimes. You don't have to do anything, we make it up as we go along especially if war really does ever break out. Ready made hostages that showed up for a vacation in a country that hates the outside world.

As for Dennis Rodman, I don't hear him planning any more face to face time with the leader/dictator. Guess he knows he would be in trouble if it did end in war.

North Korea claimed Saturday that an elderly U.S. war veteran detained for more than a month has apologized for "hostile acts" against the state during a recent trip and alleged crimes against the country during the Korean War.

I was wondering how long it would be before N.K. pulled this kind of stunt. This gentleman wanted to see the country again, but should have known better given their history with Americans and others entering the country.

It does sound like they will let him go eventually now that he has helped them feed their propoganda machine. I don't think the man read the statement willingly, but was told it's a condition for release.

I don't know what it will take for the message to be heard - Don't go near N. Korea, it's not worth it and a look in the wrong direction can land you in one of their infamous jails. The idea that "it wont happen to me" is a bad idea, because they are watching you from the moment you cross the border and just looking for any excuse to arrest you.

Turn it up, turn it up, little bit higher radioTurn it up, turn it up, so you know, radio

North Korea has deported 85-year-old American war veteran Merrill E. Newman "from a humanitarian viewpoint" after more than a month in detention, the state news agency reported Saturday.

The U.S. State Department welcomed the North's decision, releasing the following statement late Friday: "We are pleased that Mr. Merrill Newman has been allowed to depart the DPRK and re-join his family. We welcome the DPRK's decision to release him."

Oh, please. Humanitarian reason's, who are they kidding. Yes his age and medical conditions plays into his release, but not for humanitarian reasons. They were worried his health would go down hill and did not want to be responsible for that. Save their own skin and the staged forced apology are the only reasons he is free today.

The universe is big It's vast and complicated and ridiculous and sometimes, very rarelyimpossible things just happen and we call them miracles

Too bad the citizens that are suffering horribly under this dictator don't have the same rights as he is enjoying. He is shown riding the ski lift to the top of the new resort that will never be enjoyed except by those that are in his close circle. The world wouldn't attend as it's not worth jail time if you have any problems or look the wrong way. They make it up as they go along so it's a terrible risk just to say you skied N. Korea.

As a tumultuous year drew to a close, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un got away from it all by taking a solo ride aboard a ski lift.

Photos released by a North Korean newspaper on Tuesday showed the young leader — who reportedly enjoyed skiing as a teenager studying in Switzerland — inspecting the multimillion-dollar Masik Pass ski resort for the second time this month.

Plus it's now 2014 in N. Korea and not much snow on this wasted resort. Wonder who he will punish because Mother Nature isn't cooperating?

Turn it up, turn it up, little bit higher radioTurn it up, turn it up, so you know, radio

They really need to get a sense of humor and remember they were not in N. Korea, so intimidation wont work. Good for the manager to remind them where they were and it's just tongue in cheek humor, no crime was committed.

Now if they had done that in N. Korea the salon owner would already be idead.

North Korean officials paid a visit to a London hair salon to question why it had used their leader Kim Jong-un's picture in a poster offering haircuts. The poster in M&M Hair Academy in South Ealing featured the words "Bad Hair Day?" below the leader's picture.

Barber Karim Nabbach said embassy officials were shown the door and the salon's manager spoke to the police. The Met Police said: "We have spoken to all parties involved and no offence has been disclosed."

Turn it up, turn it up, little bit higher radioTurn it up, turn it up, so you know, radio

North Korean state media has attempted to end the international speculation about the whereabouts of leader Kim Jong Un by publishing the first photos of him in more than a month. The North Korean leader gave "field guidance" to a newly built residential district and visited the Natural Energy Institute of the State Academy of Sciences, state news agency KCNA reported Tuesday.

Kim hadn't been seen in public since he reportedly attended a concert with his wife on September 3. It's his longest absence from official events since he made his first public appearance in 2010, according to NK News, a website devoted to analyzing North Korea.

We all know the North Koreans are the hotbed of truth so do we believe them when they say they are recent? God bless propaganda and it's so obvious every time they try. Dangerous non the less, but their propoganda machine is something else. May work for those that can not leave N. Korea, but for the world, we just keep shaking out head.